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Bulletin ISTo. 4C>. 

SALT LAKE CITY, — UTAH 

ORIGINAL LINCOLN PROCLAMATION BURNED. 

Reprinted from ,Milu!aukee, IVis., Senlinal, of April 3, 191 I . ^ , — , 

ujy 

John E. Barton rorites as follows to the Editor of the Sentinel: "** ' 

"Seeing the statement in your issue of the other day that, at 
the fire in Albany which destroyed part of the state capitol build- 
ing, the original proclamation of emancipation was among the his- 
toric documents saved, I ask space to correct the same, as the 
crigaial proclamation of emancipation does not exist, a fact not 
g nerally known. The document in the New York capitol building 
was Lincoln's 100 day notice or warning to the rebel authorities 
that if during that period from Sept. 22, 1862, to Jan. 1, 1863, they 
• )- would lay down their arms, the union would remain as before, but 
^ if on Jan. 1, 1863, they still remained armed and defying the au- 
thority of the United States, he would on that day issue a procla- 
mation of emancipation and evoke the power of the army and navy 
of the United States to enforce the emancipation of all slaves in 
the states and parts of states still in rebellion and which were 
named in the 100 days' notice. 

."On Jan. 1, 1863, the south still being in open rebellion, Lin- 
coln'-issued his proclamation declaring the slaves free and pledged 
the support of the army and navy for its enforcement. 

"This was the original emancipation proclamation. Lincoln 
signed it in full — 'Abraham Lincoln,' and not 'A. Lincoln,' as he 
usually signed letters and lesser documents — and then presented 
it to the ladies at the head of the Christian commission and told 
them to dispose of it as they thought best for the benefit of the 
wounded union soldiers. 

"They sold the document publicly and it was purchased by 
George F. Ryan of Chicago for $3,500 and was loaned by him to 
some public entertainment committee in 1871, and it was entirely 
destroyed on Oct. 8, 1871, in the great fire. 

"The 100 day notice of warning proclamation issued by Lin- 
coln on Sept. 22, 1862, was also presented by him to the Christian 
commission for the benefit of our wounded soldiers, and that docu- 



ment was sold in a raffle to Gerrit Smith of Petersboro, N. Y., 
wiio bought 1,000 tickets at $1 each and drew it by lot. Later the 
old philanthropist wrote a prominent friend that he did not feel 
tliat a private individual should own so priceless a document and 
offered it to the state of New York. The legislature of New York 
voted to secure it and paid Gerrit Smith the same sum it had cost 
him, $1,000. 

"After the original emanci])alion proclamation was burned, 
few people knew of the fact for many years ; but when it became 
known great interest was aroused as to whether Lincoln ever 
made a duplicate of it and many years after and in an entirely 
unexpected channel it was discovered that he had. 

* * * 

"In the closing years of the war Charles Godfrey Leland, the 
poet and historian, who had written the 'Life of Lincoln and the 
Downfall of American Slavery,' a w|ork which endeared him to 
Mr. Lincoln, called at the White House, and Lincoln, to con.pli- 
ment his author friend, made a second copy of the proclamatic\ 
of emancipation on vellum w^ater marked Whatman paper, of the^ 
\\ater mark date, 1861, and signed it as he had the first document 
in full, 'Abraham Lincoln,' and had William H. Seward counter- 
sign it and also had his private secretary, John G. Nicolay, verify 
the signature in ink. 

"Years afterward, in London, where Charles Godfrey Leland 
spent his later years, he, like many another author, needed money 
and hypothecated his treasures with one James Tregaskis, a book 
seller at High Holborn street, London. Some twenty-five years 
afterward the heirs of Charles Godfrey Leland allowed the treas- 
ure to be sold. 

"A large book shop in Salt Lake City, Utah, owned and man- 
aged by the Hon. Richard B. Shepard, as 'Shepard Book Company,' 
v.-rote me he could sell me a Lincoln proclamation signed in ink 
for a given sum. I answered him that I confined myself to books 
and pamphlets on Lincoln and could not afford to enter the auto- 
graph field of Lincolniana. l^nir months later C. I^. I'^irrell, 
brother-in-law of Robert G. Tngersoll wrote me he had a well-to-do 
client who had entered the happy and historic pastime of collecting 
Lincoln autograph documents and to be on the lookout as he 
would pay ^7S for any proclamation signed in ink by Lincoln. I 
then dropi)ed a line to my friend Shepard and asked him if it was 
too late to get the signed proclamation of Lincoln's he had once 
offered me and which T refused. He wrote back that he did not 
know, but would a.-^k his London agent, at once, and a month later 



9 



I received, in a metal cylinder, a fine old document direct from 
Tregaskis in London, with the option to buy. I opened it and 
when I saw what it w^as I did not believe it possible or true and 
my first impression was that Shepard had been deceived. How- 
ever, as I had many ink signatures of Lincoln's I could not doubt 
its genuineness. I immediately took it to the First National Bank 
and showed my prize to Frank Bigelow. He asked me if I was 
sure it was genuine and I told him yes, but that I did not have 
funds enough to secure it and the other treasures offered of Lin- 
coln's. He asked me how much I needed to make sure of them 
and I told him $300. He took a little, small checkbook from his 
inside coat pocket and promptly wrote me a check for the $300 
and told me not to let so rare a thing get away from Milwaukee, 
as congress would some day want it. I secured it at once and own 
it still and will long remember the man who so unselfishly helped 
nie to secure it. 

"I then wrote to John Hay at Washington, who was secretary 
of state under Roosevelt, and asked him if he ever remembered 
a circumstance of Mr. Lincoln's signing a second copy of the 
emancipation proclamation. He wrote that he did not, but that 
Mr. Lincoln did many queer things in his time, but he could not 
pass on such an important document without seeing it. I at 
once packed it securely and put $2,000 value on the package and 
sent it by express to Secretary Ha> at Washington for examina- 
tion. He received it, examined it and wrote me promptly that 
the document was genuine beyond a question and that Miss Nic- 
olay, daughter of his old associate, John G. Nicolay, was in Wash- 
ington and would also verify the signatures. Mr. Hay then wrote 
me the facts regarding the original and its owner and its fate of 
having been burned in the fire of 187L He also wrote me that 
Lincoln had done the same thing for Mr. Seward and had pre- 
pared and signed a perfect duplicate, same as mine, which was 
stili in the state department. My copy is in a fireproof safe, but 
I often feel that it is not well that a private citizen should possess 
such a document, yet my reverence for Lincoln as the man of men 
in all the history of the world justifies me in holding it, but it 
always seems as if I stood on holy ground every time I take it in 
my hands and look at the signature of the man who by that act 
made free a race of 4,000,000 people. 

"God bless Abraham Lincoln and his memory forever. It is 
worth more to American citizenship than any other influence in 
existence and is strong enough to save our nation from wrong 
doing or from danger." 




h\& 



THE 

Rocky Mountain Saints; 

A FULL AND COMPLETE 

History of the Mormons, from the First Tision of Joseph Smith 
to the Last Courtship of Brigham Young; 

INCLUDING 

The Story of the Hand Cart Emigration — The Mormon War — The 

Mountain- Meadow Massacre — The Reign of Terror in Utah — The 

Doctrine ofHuman Sacracfice — The Political, Domestic, Social, 

and Theological Influences of the Saints — The Facts of 

Polygamy — The Colonization of the Rocky Mountains 

AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREAT MINERAL 
WEALTH OF UTAH 

By T. B. H. STENHOUSE, Twenty-five years a Mormon Elder and 
Missionary, and Editor and Proprietor of the Salt Lake "Daily Telegraph." 

Illuslrated with Tweuty-four Full-page Engravings, a Steel Plate Frontispiece, an 
Autograph Letter of Brigham Young, and Numerous Wood cuts. 

Octavo, 800 pages, Cloth, $3.00 

Brigham's Destroying Angel. 

Being the Life, Confessions and Startling Disclosures of BILL 
HICKMAN, The Danite Chief of Utah, written by himself. 
With Explanatory Notes by J. H. Beadle, of Salt Lake City. 
Profusely Illustrated. 1 2mo Cloth, $i.oo. Paper Covers, 
Printed in Four Colors, 50c. 

U. S. A. 



llnck Sam's Aliscess, or Holl Upon Earth; 

By W. JARMAN 

Who suffered 12 years in the Mormon Hell Upon Earth, * * * Under 

the "All-Seeing Eye" and the sign "Holiness Unto the Lord." 



12nio Cloth, Illustrated, SIOO. 



Paper Covers, No Illustrations, 50c. 



Shepard Book Company 

Salt JLake City, - - Utah 
LEJe'l3 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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011 899 205 2 



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